I’ve been playing and writing about Commander for fifteen years, and as the format has grown into the most popular way to play Magic on the planet, I’m often approached with the question: “How do I start with Commander?” I even wrote a book designed to jumpstart someone into the format, The Complete Commander.
Luckily for new fans, these days it’s never been easier to jump into Commander, thanks to the Commander preconstructed decks that Wizards of the Coast (WotC) prints multiple times a year to help do exactly that. They even printed “Starter Commander” precon decks this fall that are all reprints and are quite good, and reasonably costed: you can get most of them from $25-$30.
For many players like me, though, building a Commander deck from scratch is a big part of the fun, so I’m here today to recommend five great commanders for new Magic players to build decks around.
The Negativity Trap
One problem that new players often run across is, after spending time and money building their first Commander deck, they’ll find that the commander they selected has negativity associated with it based on its power level or play patterns, and their opponents may respond in a way that doesn’t make their first games of Commander much fun. I’ve built this list of commanders while doing my best to pick good power levels, but also looking for choices that don’t carry some of that negative baggage.
I’ll begin with “budget starters,” cards that are inexpensive and good ways to fill out your first deck without spending too much money on the singles. Then I’ll list some cards that might be a bit more expensive but are nice upgrades to your strategy if you’re having a good time with the deck and want to invest more into it. Lastly, I’ll have some helpful tips and tricks to keep in mind while building or playing the deck.
Let’s get started!
Ghoulcaller Gisa (Mono-Black Zombies)
Tribal decks are a lot of fun and a great way to get the hang of deckbuilding. I chose mono-black Zombies because WotC has provided a ton of support for the Zombie creature type over the decades, including lots of reprints, so it’s pretty easy to pull together a solid deck without breaking the bank. Plus, you won’t have to invest much in lands that fix the colors of your mana; you can just add in a few utility lands and then round out the list with Swamps.
Even though Ghoulcaller Gisa isn’t herself a Zombie, her activated ability can really crank out more and more Zombie tokens as the game goes on. At a bare minimum, you can sacrifice one 2/2 Zombie token to create two 2/2 Zombie tokens. Keep an eye out for tribal cards that boost the power of your Zombies, and you can make even more.
Gisa Budget Starters
If you go to your favorite Magic card database (I prefer Scryfall) and search for oracle keyword “Zombie” and your commander color identity as mono-black, you’ll get a ton of great cards that can fit into your deck. One trick I use is to then sort by “EDHREC Rank,” which will then have the cards that are more popular in Commander bubble up to the top of the list, though you might run across some hidden gems if you keep scrolling down. The cards I picked here are all pretty cheap and will do a lot of good work in your Gisa deck. I’m a big fan of Fell Stinger, a card I play in most of my creature-heavy black decks for the card draw, but the fact that it’s also a Zombie makes it even better in this deck.
Gisa Upgrades
These cards are more expensive, but will bring more power to your deck if you can trade or buy them. At the very least, I’d invest in a Gravecrawler, since it so easily comes back from the graveyard and can be sacrificed to Gisa over and over. Cabal Coffers and Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth are powerhouse lands that will do great work in any mono-black deck, providing a huge mana bump in the later stages of the game.
Gisa Tips & Tricks
Keep an eye out for other cards that can boost the power of your creatures; each one point of power you can add to a creature you’re going to sacrifice with Gisa translates into one more 2/2 Zombie. Lashwrithe is particularly amazing in this deck since you can pay life for the equip cost if you’re tight on mana, and if you equip it to a 2/2 Zombie to sacrifice to Gisa, you’ll get an extra 2/2 Zombie for each Swamp you control.
Gisa churns out a lot of token Zombie cards, and they make excellent fodder for card effects that require sacrifice outside of Gisa herself. Altar of Bhaal springs to mind, letting you trade a token on the battlefield to get back a Zombie creature card that ended up in the graveyard.
Astor, Bearer of Blades (Boros Equipment)
If you’re looking to dip into a two-color deck, a Boros (Red/White) Equipment-themed deck might be right up your alley. WotC has given a ton of support to Equipment decks in these colors over the years, and many of their staples are very inexpensive. You have several decent choices as your commander, but I feel the recently printed Astor, Bearer of Blades is the best of the bunch. I really like his enters-the-battlefield trigger, which should snag you an extra card for your hand most of the time, and adding an incredibly cheap equip cost to your Equipment and cheap crew cost to your Vehicles makes Astor a really sweet package.
Astor Budget Starters
As you can see, these are quality cards and all of them are quite cheap. Many of them provide some much-needed card draw, or cheap ways to attach Equipment to your creatures, or else they make your artifacts cheaper. I’d like to draw your attention to Sunforger, which has an incredible activated ability that unlocks a “toolbox” of instant or sorcery spells that you can search up to help deal with whatever you need dealt with at the time. You can get a Swords to Plowshares to exile a creature that’s indestructible, a Boros Charm to make your permanents indestructible until the end of the turn, or a Generous Gift to destroy any big, bad permanent and leave your opponent with a 3/3 Elephant instead.
Astor Upgrades
If you enjoy playing Astor, here are some good upgrades to boost your deck, including some higher-grade Equipment cards. Sword of Hearth and Home is particularly nice since you can target Astor with its trigger to exile it and bring it back, getting its enters-the-battlefield trigger again.
Astor Tips & Tricks
Keep in mind that Astor secretly costs five mana: four to cast it, and then one mana to pay for an equip cost right away, assuming you have a piece of Equipment on the battlefield. For that reason, I’d include a fair amount of artifact mana cards that cost three mana, like Darksteel Ingot; cast it on Turn 3, and assuming you make your fourth land drop the next turn, you can cast Astor and have that one extra mana available.
Keep an eye out for the metalcraft keyword on cards; Equipment decks usually have three or more artifacts on the battlefield, so it’s usually pretty easy to meet the requirement. Jor Kadeen, the Prevailer gives a sizable power boost to all of your creatures if you meet the threshold.
Lastly, keep an eye out for creatures that have indestructible, since they’ll make sturdy targets to attach your Equipment to, like Darksteel Juggernaut.
Ikra Shidiqi, the Usurper (Golgari Lifegain)
Lifegain strategies make a good choice for beginner players in Commander; a lot of people tend to not consider the strategy too much of a threat, leaving you alone to develop your battlefield and not have to worry too much about being attacked early on. Even if you are attacked, getting that life buffer means it’s easier to absorb the hits and keep on playing. I really like the Witherbloom school cards from Strixhaven: School of Mages that play up this strategy, and you can find them in Scryfall by searching for “wm:Witherbloom” for watermark, Witherbloom. Ikra Shidiqi, the Usurper isn’t from Witherbloom, but its ability to gain life from combat damage plays perfectly with this strategy.
Black and green also just have great cards in Commander to round out your decklist, with plenty of mana ramp, color-fixing, removal options, and card draw.
Ikra Budget Starters
Creatures that have lifelink, like Vampire Nighthawk, are going to be great here, especially since the ability “stacks” alongside Ikra’s triggered ability; you’ll get life from the lifelink ability and from Ikra if you deal damage to a player.
Ezzaroot Channeler can provide a powerful discount to your creature spells after your combat step, assuming you’ve gained a bunch of life. And I love that Marshland Bloodcaster also helps you discount any spell you want by paying life for it instead.
The front side of Valentin, Dean of the Vein is certainly a solid play in the first turn or two, but it’s the back side of the card, Lisette, Dean of the Root, that’ll do a bunch of work for your deck, boosting all your creatures whenever you gain life, assuming you have the mana available.
Ikra Upgrades
Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose is a strong upgrade choice for this deck and with enough lifegain in one turn can serve as a win condition. With all the lifegain in the deck, you might consider tapping into black’s ability to pay life for cards with powerhouse cards like Necropotence and Bolas’s Citadel.
Lastly, don’t forget that Ikra has one more ability, partner—and if you want to expand the colors of your deck to a third color, Prava of the Steel Legion is a solid choice that plays great with Ikra and opens up a bunch of white lifegain matters card to your decklist.
Ikra Tips & Tricks
Try to temper any huge gains of life until you’re in a position to fight against opponents focusing on you too closely, since a coordinated attack from multiple opponents can really pummel your battlefield standing. Keep an eye out for ways to bring your creatures back from the graveyard, of which there are plenty in the color combination.
Kangee, Sky Warden (Azorius Flying)
Flying is a potent form of evasion is Commander, and a good way to have defenses against flyers is to have a bunch of flyers yourself. One way to ensure that is to make a flying deck, and thankfully WotC has been printing good support for that theme in recent years. Don’t be fooled by Kangee being an uncommon; in a deck filled with fliers, Kangee’s triggered abilities hit very hard and make it quite likely that you’ll rule the sky.
Kangee Budget Starters
These are all excellent support for a flying deck and can be picked up quite cheaply; I’d happily run almost of these in any fully powered up flying deck. You can also just round the deck out with any good creature with flying, such as Mulldrifter, Ornithopter of Paradise, or Reveillark.
Kangee Upgrades
Some of these flyers are more expensive, but they pack a powerful punch. Sephara, Sky’s Blade is particularly awesome in this deck, giving your other flyers indestructible. If you can get your hands on a Teferi’s Protection, it would be worth the slot; a lot of times, opponents who can’t deal with your flyers will cast a battlefield sweeper like Wrath of God, so protecting them from that fate could be a game-winner.
Kangee Tips & Tricks
Keep an eye out for cards that make flying tokens, like Battle Screech. The small flyers can quickly become threatening with all the flyer buffs in your deck. Effects like vigilance are always strong in Commander, but even more so with flyers, since they can protect you from an aerial counterattack; I love Thraben Watcher for that reason. Lastly, cards like Bident of Thassa trigger from combat damage to players, and a flyer deck has a good shot of getting something through unblocked, even if it’s small.
Queen Marchesa (Mardu Monarch)
If you’re feeling adventurous building a more complex manabase, here’s a three-color commander that should be fun to build a deck around! The monarch mechanic is fantastic in Commander, and is particularly valuable for newer players who might otherwise have a difficult time choosing whom to attack. Introduce the monarch into the game with Queen Marchesa, and whoever “steals” the monarch from you is the person you’ll want to be attacking to get it back! Games with the monarch mechanic tend to be a lot more dynamic, with lots of creature combat and swings back and forth.
Marchesa Budget Starters
Adding more cards with the monarch mechanic is perfectly on-theme, and helps you steal back the monarch without necessarily having to attack for it. Windborn Muse is a budget card that makes it more difficult for an opponent to attack you and take the monarch from you, while cards like Kardur, Doomscourge push opponents to attack each other rather than you.
Brash Taunter is a favorite of mine, and a fantastic budget way to keep large non-flying creatures from attacking you to take the monarch.
Marchesa Upgrades
Some of the more powerful monarch cards are a bit pricey, but worth the slots if you pick them up later. Ghostly Prison is like Windborn Muse, but less vulnerable to creature removal. Breena, the Demagogue brings political wrangling to the mix, letting you offer up deals to point people into attacking other opponents rather than you.
Marchesa Tips & Tricks
When you are the monarch, opponents will certainly be tempted to attack you, so play some spells that might make them think twice about it. Deflecting Palm is like a Brash Taunter nobody sees coming, and can turn what would have been a huge hit to your life total into devastation for your opponent. Inkshield costs more mana (and money) but can seriously turn a game around in a hurry.
Lastly, don’t overlook all the fantastic removal options available in Mardu, starting with Crackling Doom. This one card will often take down three of the biggest threats on the battlefield for just three mana!
If you have any deckbuilding questions or need more play advice for these commanders, please let me know!
Talk to Me
Do me a solid and follow me on Twitter! I run polls and get conversations started about Commander all the time, so get in on the fun! You can also find my LinkTree on my profile page there with links to all my content.
I’d also love it if you followed my Twitch channel TheCompleteCommander, where I do Commander, Brawl and sometimes other Magic-related streams when I can. If you can’t join me live, the videos are available on demand for a few weeks on Twitch, but I also upload them to my YouTube channel. You can also find the lists for my paper decks over on Archidekt if you want to dig into how I put together my own decks and brews.
And lastly, I just want to say: let us love each other and stay healthy and happy.
Visit my Decklist Database to see my decklists and the articles where they appeared!
